The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1887-05-14

much surprised.
No. 222 had risen oi2 the entry of the
Governor and stood to Attention with his
hand at his sides. His apuntenancc ex-
hibited an air of mild concern, merging in
pity.
In the middle of the cell Me warder
slept serenely on his head.
ain Heavens name, what's this2p the
Governor exclaimed at length, and he
made lunge with his cane at the inverted
figure of the warder.
"Mr. Smith on his head, sir. Woulh
stand that way when he heard you comins,
sir, responded No. 222.
sect upl Attention. Stand on
your right end Is this damned skittle
alley ?" roared the Governor, but the war
der's ear was accessible only to the voice of
the prisoner.
"What-you won't l' and the Governor
struck him fercely two or three times with
his cane, but the warder was insensibie to
every shock.
No. 222, who alone had control of the
warder's abnormal consciousness now
silently exerted his will; and the warder at
once resumed an upright posture and his
senses awoke OF the situation Of the
previous moment he knew nothing, and
seeing the Governor he concluded that he
had just entered the cell, and saluted him
in the usual manner.
"Follow me, sir" said the Governor with
suppressed fury, and the warder went out
after him, perceiving that something was
wrong, but being quite without clew to
the situation.
The next day it was whispered that No.
222 had worked another miracle and that
Warden Smith had lost his Office.
Yet wonders did not cease, and there was
no ease for the wardens. A subtle, i'm
ponderable force, to which no material bar
riers could be opposed, issued from the cell
of No. 222 and passed silently, swiftly, IN
visibly into the cells of other prisoners,
creating the strangest effects upon the oc-
cupants. Some were troubled with dis
tressing dreams some spoke of snakes,
caterpillars, and Holsters in their beds, and
not few saw the disembodied spirits of
persons to whom they had owed money.
A great number became suddenly deaf,
dumb, or incapable of movement when at
work in the daytime, and remained so until
the magical influence which seemed to
surround and overpower them was removed.
One man was fined 200 marks for saying
that chocolate and cold quail would be
wholesome substitute for bread and cheese
on Sunday, and another was put on bread
and water for a week for complaining to
the Governor that he saw blue flames play
ing about the head of the apothecary.
Formerly none but the officers of the
jail had been subjected to these extrava-
CANT experiences, but now the prisoners and
their officers were victimized together, and
about one half of the population seemed to
have run clean mad.
The persons who were afflicted in these
peculiar ways were such as had rendered
themselves burdensome to the mild-man-
nered 222-warders whose treatment of
him was more jealous than tender; pris-
oners whom he could not endure because
of their extreme ugliness; cooks of the
prison who baked, boiled, or roasted the
rations in slovenly manner and all those
whose crimes( which he had secretly learnedl
seemed to call for weightier punishment
than that prescribed law.
No. 222, in word, was rapidly acquir-
ing complete ascendancy over the volitions,
sensations, perceptions, memory, and i'm
agination of all in the prison on whom he
chose to cast the resistless spell of his glance.
1t should here be stated that the doctor
of the prison was absent on sick leave, an
orderly of the medical department having
administered poison to him in moment of
The doctors place had been
taken by young and futile man from
London hospital, who distributed pills ona
principle of his own and gave cough mix
ture to a prisoner who complained of the
gout. He saw nothing in the madness of
No. 222's innumerable victims that could
not be cured with the assistance of the
warder, who was usually appointed to fog.
But the warders, one and all, began to
be horribly frightened. 1t had been their
endeavor hitherto to hoodwink the Gov
ernor touching the origin of these strange
and woful visitations, but in this they had
not been entirely successful, for the reason
that some of the cases which had to be
brought before him were so unparalleled in
record of prison delinquencies that his
worship began to be suspicious and some
and awkward questions were the
result.
Now, however, the officers decided that
the time had come when the Governor
should be put in possession of such facts as
they knew, and the chief warder and the
second warder were deputed deputation
to wait upon him. They had an interview
with the Governor and put him in posses
sion of the facts. Bat there was really
only one fact, and it amounted to this:
that extraordinary things had happened
and were happening in the prison. Therest
was conjecture; and the conjecture Of the
chief warder and his subordinates reduced
itself to this !; that in some way or other
which they could not explain, prisoner No.
222 was accountable for everything that
had arisen 10 disturb the peace of the jail
The Governor said this was odd, for the
warders had been compelled to admit that
so far as his own conduct was concerned
No. 222 was an exemplary prisoner. But
Did such achievementlie within the com
pass of human skill?
At this time there was residing in we'll
appointed chambers in Cork street, Picca-
dilly, young man favorably known to the
best society as the Hon. Alan Bede Fitz-
Gibbon. He was well-bred and gracious
young man, for whom family connections,
transparent penmanship, and an unusual
reverence for the constitution had combined
to procure the post of junior assistant sec
retary to the Secretary of State for the
Home Department
One evening, some three or four days
after No. 222 had resolved on obtaining his
freedom, this young man dressed himself
for ball and entered cab, which was to
take him to the house of his entertainer in
Kensington.
1t was late and the night was cloudy, and
as the cab passed through dim and half
deserted square in the neighborhood Of the
park, there appeared suddenly to the startled
vision of Fifz(1ihhon mirrored and naminp